Hello fellow WOFFers!!

We are starting Part 2 of the Fokker Scourge "RiR" Challenge this coming weekend and we'd love a few more pilots to join us! If you have not tried flying WOFF without any aids, then now's your chance to "learn the ropes" along with others, and I think you'll find it highly compelling, albeit a little scary at first!

Check out the thread for details and rules, etc. HMU with a PM if you have any questions...

Cheers

H

HarryH, not to hijack this thread but will we ever see you back with us in the Centenary DID? We sure miss you.

Fair question Banjoman! I kind of abandoned you all around the time I first got hooked on RiR and I feel bad about that. At the time I wanted to get better at flying RiR before trying it in the centenary and then I got involved in setting up the team v team thing, and well....

So, yes I think I'll be back at some point in the new year, once this part 2 is over.

Cheers

H

I totally understand, there are only so many hours in a day. If and when you come back just know that we will be glad to have you.

Thanks Banjoman!

H

Well, I'd love to join, but I'm not sure if that'll work this WE already. I think I'll catch up with you Guys next Week, if that's Okay.

Of course, Nietzsche. You have all week to complete the first two missions. If you can't jump in until next weekend that's fine. Just start with missions 3 & 4 then. Don't forget to sign up at the link when you have a chance.

Cheers

H

A bit OT, but I'd like to see this challenge get even more "real" besides adjusting how you fly with throttle/mixture. Zapping planes at 300 yards range with a deflection shot in a turning fight is entertaining, but not realistic at all. WOFF has a great DM, but it is still very forgiving when shooting at other planes from a distance.


Consider some quotes from theaerodrome.com:


"You can see why guys like Mannock, McCudden and Richthofen would fly right up the a** of the enemy before opening fire. Unlike a lot of aces, Mannock was fairly open on occasion about how scared he was of the need to do that; he was pretty hard on himself and regarded it as a personal defect that he was scared to close on the enemy. He worked hard to overcome that fear, because he knew that he would have to if he was to get victories. Richthofen's combat reports regularly relate him being right up the a** of the enemy, often as close as a mere plane's length away, and if a guy who shot down 80 aircraft had to do that sort of thing, then it is enough to convince me that 300 yards is not where you're going to find it easy to hit stuff. McCudden is on record as saying that air combat had seriously depleted his sporting instincts, and from that statement it is not hard to imagine what he was talking about. If you read one or two aces autobiographies, you'll note that some of them even got enemy flyer's blood on their aeroplanes because they were so close to the enemy when they opened fire. You can find an example of exactly that in McCudden's autobiography. Even in WW2, where ranges were typically a little longer than in WW1, there was a night fighter Hurricane pilot whose aircraft got blood spattered all over it when he shot down an German bomber. He was at the time so traumatised by the death of his wife and child in a bombing raid, that when the mechanics tried to clean it off his aircraft he rounded on them and demanded they leave it on there.

It's a cruel fact that experienced WW1 German pilots would deliberately fly along at about 300 yards range in formation with British Independent Force bombers so that any inexperienced gunners on the bombers would fire at them and waste ammo, and then they would close in, thus facing less enemy fire. Many aces could tell when they were up against a veteran or not based on when the guy fired, and would be fairly certain it was a newcomer if they were firing at long range, so then they'd go for that guy. Lots of people slag off Richthofen for doing that sort of thing, but he is merely the most famous for it, and pretty much every other ace did the same sort of thing."


also....


"'Mick' Mannock 61+ claims

In his rules for air fighting
"Rule 1. Pilots must dive to attack with zest, and must hold their fire until they get within one hundred yards of their target."

Oswald Boelcke 40 Claims and the father of German fighter tactics

He advocated to his pilots to get within 100 meters before opening fire. In his rules for air fighting (Dicta Boelcke) he states,
"Rule 3. Only fire at close range, and then only when the opponent is properly in your sights"

Manfred von Richthofen 80 Claims and leading WW1 Ace

"I calmly let him shoot, for even the best sharpshooter's marksmanship could not help at a distance of 300 metres. One just does not hit."



Therefore, I'd say to hold your fire until you can get within 100 meters or less and pretend that you're pilot is having a hard time trying to get on the tail of the other plane while he is maneuvering, you are maneuvering, you are watching behind you for enemies, watching your comrades to make sure they are okay, bouncing around in the slipstream of other aircraft, being blasted by freezing wind, avoiding other aircraft, probably scared sh**less and being pumped with adrenaline like crazy.

Along with WOFF's excellent AI behavior, if you handicap yourself to shooting to 100 meters or less (and add HarryH's throttle/mixture settings & rules), you will definitely get much less victories and it will be a fight to survive from one mission to the next.

IMHO, I should be sweating after each mission....

Anyone pulling off that feat is way too skilled for me. Lining up shots RIR (i.e. no gunsight view, putting my head behind the gun with TrackIR movements only) I am lucky to get 25% hits from close behind an enemy.

Setting guns to 'less accurate' would be another easy cure for those who shoot better than me!

OldHat, just being devils advocate here. If realism is what you are after, some must spray away at long distances and a very few get up close, as per your quotes. I really don't know at what range I shoot as I don't use labels but its pretty close, unless I am outnumbered and then I pop a shot whenever I can because I can't stay on someone's six without getting shot.

That's exactly what I try to do as well OldHat, and what I was trying to say as well. If we set the game up to not allow unrealistic abilities than it forces us to fly and fight as the real pilots did, which is the fun part for me.